1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to the destruction of alkali metal and alkaline earth metal waste. It particularly relates to a molten salt process for destroying alkali metals such as sodium, potassium, and lithium, and mixtures thereof, present in liquid metal reactor coolants.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Alkali and alkaline earth metal waste e.g. radioactive sodium waste from reactor heat transfer media, are hazardous wastes because of the characteristic of reactivity. Before they can be disposed of, this characteristic must be destroyed. A large inventory of such metals, particularly sodium, potassium, lithium and mixtures of these metals are also radioactive.
A number of processes for the disposal of these metals such as sodium exists. These include reaction of sodium with water, reaction of sodium with concentrated caustic, reaction with alcohol, burning of sodium in oxygen, calcination with silica, and reactions of sodium with ammonia, hydrogen, halogens and nitrous oxide. However, these present methods for the destruction of the characteristic of reactivity of alkali metals such as sodium have been proven generally unsatisfactory and disadvantageous for various reasons, such as the production of hydrogen, an explosive gas, or oxides, which are highly corrosive. Thus, the provision of a suitable method and the design of facilities to process large quantities of alkali and alkaline earth metal waste, such as sodium, is very challenging.